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Written by Rosie Watts

An already noisy environment does not mean you cannot find a way to be heard.

The truth is that nobody likes to be made to wait. When we’re determined, we’re often impatient. You could compare waiting for your business to kick off to waiting in a busy restaurant. Everyone is receiving their food and you are last in line, a sorry state of affairs. A busy restaurant is popular and waiting in the right space is far better than being severed something nobody wants.

Sometimes, it’s better to be surrounded than it is to be alone.

Know Your Market And Your Worth

Being a start-up and venturing into the often tough world of business will inevitably test your strength and willpower. It’s important to remember why your business exists. Let’s not dwell on the large players who may be a few steps ahead. Not every competitor will succeed, entering a market and succeeding in one are two very different things.

When you’re playing in a crowded space, your USPS (unique selling points) will be your saving grace. Don’t be shy about buying and testing your competitor’s offering, doing this can help you iron out where you really fit into this space and market. No buying experience will be 100% unique, ensure yours is being tested constantly.

Stand by your original decision and continue to reaffirm it through robust innovation. Customers don’t just buy products – they buy brands.

Price Isn’t Everything

A trap that a lot of start-ups fall into is the need to beat the rest of the market on price point. Sure, it’s one of many key factors a consumer considers before making a purchase, this is undeniable. But if you, a start-up, can afford to undercut, the big guys are surely more than capable once they catch on. All this game will do is harm your bottom line.

The recent trend of gourmet burgers and fancy craft ales are both great examples of this. Create something that tastes great in a market that is already flourishing, but make it better, and your audience will no doubt be happy to spend a few more pounds. Customers will move away from well-known burger joints and weekend tiples for something new and on trend.

Spread The Word, Marketing Is Key

Part of reaffirming your businesses main purpose and goals is to help aid and fuel your marketing strategy. If you and those around you understand the very purpose of the business, your message to your target audience will be far clearer.

As an E-commerce consultant, I have seen first hand the benefit of knowing your product. If you understand how to make it competitive and accessible, then you’re ready to build traffic. Building traffic before you have secured all the former crucial steps makes for bad first impressions, and effectively, it’s money down the drain.

Ways in which you can start to be seen and heard, vary from industry to industry. B2B Sectors need to embrace more of a “modern” approach in the form of digital marketing but not forget about the tactics that have always worked. Being present in networking spaces and conferences have always been key to B2B recognition. Branded fabric display stands with the brand message, USPs, and vision used to draw in new wandering eyes

It’s time to embrace an online first approach, it’s simply not good enough now to wait until prospective customers find you before you find them. Alongside the traditional tactics that have always worked, integrate digital marketing tactics into your strategy. Both have their place in the sales funnel, without one you risk losing people along the way or even worse, rely too much on a small audience.

For e-commerce, the options can feel endless. There are so many crucial stages to earning that all-important transaction. Remembering the earlier point about knowing your product and how it sits within a bigger space and why it exists are all crucial before you start building the traffic. Once you reach this stage, you’re going to want sales, and fast. Google Shopping offers merchants exactly this. The nature of this advertising form means you reach the buyer further along in their buying journey, resulting in broad visibility and high conversion rates. Turning this channel on should give you the confidence and knowledge you need to grow your business.

Competition will always pose challenges, but it can also confirm your faith in your own product or service, helping you to build the relationships and sales funnel that your success ultimately depends on. The rest is just a numbers game.

About the Author

Rosie is a Digital Marketing Manager at Digital cake, established Shopify Experts based in Birmingham UK. At the very core of her role is helping brands understand their e-commerce potential. Digital cake believe that before you can grow online, their needs to be a deep understanding first of the potential in each market before you can know which channel will allow you a slice of the action. Growing a business and making your mark online is about testing, learning and going again but next time, better.